HEART OF THE SEA (Lisa Denker/Charlotte Lagarde) Rating: NNNN
Heart Of The Sea, opening this week’s Breast Fest, works not only as a compelling story about a woman with breast cancer, but as a testimony to the power of community.
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Rell Sunn was a pioneer, breaking ground for women surfers, making way for a bevy of babes ready to hang 10. In 1982, she was diagnosed with cancer and fought recurring bouts until 1998, when she finally lost the battle.
But what a winner this woman was. In the early 80s her activism turned from sports to health, as she publicly spoke out to encourage women to demand the information and treatments they needed. She remained an inspirational coach, leading a team of young people to Italy for a surfing competition. And throughout her illness, she never stopped catching the waves – even bald and weakened she was a powerful force on the sea.
Her surfing community is a bright light, raising funds for her care and easing her way as her condition worsened. A sequence in which scores of surfers on their boards follow the boat carrying Sunn’s ashes out to sea before a final surf in her honour is a knockout. Screens Friday (November 20) at the ROM.
Also at the fest is Jonna’s Body, Please Hold, Adam Bluming’s dark comedy about Jonna Tomases’s experience with breast cancer. It has a great idea – telling the story from the point of view of Tomases’s body parts – but the ear-splitting tone is a bit off. Screens Saturday (November 21).
